"So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months."

Google is offering users an easy way to download all of their feeds via OPML, and users should be able to switch to another competing service without too much hassle.

But the search giant may be surprised by the flood of negative reaction to the news.

On Thursday morning 'Google Reader' was trending on Twitter above the name of the new pope, and many users expressed their dismay that the useful - albeit unloved - product was dying.

The wider internet was also furious, with the inevitable 'Hilter Reaction' video being produced seemingly within minutes of the news breaking.

Mashable wrote: "And that giant "NOOOOOOOO" sound is the Internet's reaction to Google's most unpopular decision in — well, as far back as I can remember."

Many blamed the rise - forced or otherwise - of Google's social network, Google+.

“When they replaced sharing with +1 on Google Reader, it was clear that this day was going to come,” Christ Wetherell, one of the early creators of Google Reader, told GigaOm.

“We had a sign that said, ‘days since cancellation‘ and it was there from the very beginning."

But others in the RSS community didn't seem as bothered.

Dave Winer, who helped codify the RSS standard, said that he "won't miss it".